Eyes of the Universe
by Beth's Beautiful Game
Summary: It all started with a favour. And then it all spiralled out of control. Before she knows it, Rose finds herself in America on international TV filming live segments with wrestlers. And something's brewing beneath the surface of improvised lines. But all of the time, the WWE Universe is watching and reading, following the real-life drama with eagerness that makes Rose cringe.


**_A/N: _**_This was inspired by CrystalFireIce's fic 'Over the Barrier'. Here is a link to it (just remove the spaces): www .fanfiction s /8652855 /1 /Over-The-Barrier_

**_Disclaimer(s): _**_I do not own WWE, nor their staff or talent. Unfortunately. I __do__ own my OCs and the ensuing plot. Any scenes that you do not recognise belong to me. Please do not use/copy them without my permission._

_On with the story! Enjoy!_

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**Chapter One – **_Thrown into the spotlight_

"Right, is everyone ready to go?"

Various high-pitched "yeah"s and "yay"s came from the twins in front of me. Claire and Percy were almost identical apart from the obvious. They both had their mother's dark brown hair, pale skin and huge brown eyes.

"Let's get going then," I smiled before calling into the living room, "Are you alright on your own, Nat?"

"Yeah, you go have a good time," my sister called back in a croaky voice, "Chat up some sexy wrestlers when the kids aren't looking."

I rolled my eyes. "Just call me if you need me."

"Will do!"

Natasha, my little sister, had been taken down by flu yesterday so, not wanting to disappoint her kids, she had called me and asked for a favour. Of course I had jumped at the opportunity to spend time with my niece and nephew, even if it did mean watching some sweaty men in pants roll around a ring.

I had to leave Matthew, my older brother, in charge of the farm for the night, but I had done most of the chores already so he couldn't complain too much.

"Come on then." Jingling the car keys around my finger, I opened the door and out the twins ran to my battered old Beetle.

Throughout the whole journey, I listened to the kids rambling about how they were doing in school and the adventures they got up to with their friends. Apparently they were playing kiss-chase in the playground earlier, but Percy didn't kiss Danielle Rivers when he caught her. This story resulted in Percy sulking for the rest of the car ride whilst Claire jabbered on and on, completely oblivious to her brother's mood.

All was forgotten, however, as we pulled up in a Birmingham car park. He had obviously taken over from Claire's babbling when I got back to them after paying for a ticket.

"- And Cena'll be all like '_pow!' 'bang!' 'kapoof!' _and he'll beat CM Punk who'll be crying like, _'Waah, waah! I want my title back!"_

I smiled at the little boy. He was so excited he was jumping up and down. I held their hands as we crossed the roads to the arena, although it was quite difficult to stop Percy from whizzing around like a jet pack; he was as high as if he had had five litres of cola.

The foyer was full of hyperactive kids, awkward teenagers and harassed adults. There were also a few adults who looked way too excited for something like this. Those were the creepy ones I intended to keep Claire and Percy away from.

"Auntie Rosalie, can I have a Cena cap, please?"

Bless little boys and their bluntness. It didn't take a genius to know that the wrestling merchandise they were selling cost a fortune. Masking a sigh, I nodded as I led them over to the merchandise stall. Just as I thought: £25 for a bright green baseball cap. And I had to get Claire something too, so that was another £25 for the bright pink 'Rise above Cancer' cap.

Nevertheless, I forced on a big smile and paid for the tacky things, pleased to see my sister's children's faces light up but not so pleased about how light my purse had just become.

"Excuse me, miss? What's your name?"

I turned towards the American voice. A man was stood there with a backstage pass around his neck. He was not particularly good-looking but he definitely had an air of importance around him. He had a strange little beard that, along with his hair, was greying. He was holding a simple digital camera.

"Rosalie Birde. Can I help you?" I asked, gripping the kids' hands tighter.

"Where are you sitting tonight?"

"I _think _we're on the front row."

He grinned, "Perfect. Now, we were wondering if you would like to take greater part in a segment of tonight's show."

"What do you mean?"

"The superstar, CM Punk, will call you out. All you have to do is enter the ring; Punk will grill you a little. You don't have to, but you can have a bit of a war with words with him. Cena will run out and save you and you can go back to your seat."

"Please, Auntie Rosalie," Percy pleaded, "That would be so _awesome!"_

Claire's eyes had gone huge as she tugged at my arm, "You'll be on telly! You'll be famous!"

Chuckling, I shook my head, "I don't know. I'm not dressed for being on international TV."

"You look great," the American man assured me, "You don't have to make your decision now. If you don't want to do it at the time, don't boo Punk and he won't pick you. If you do boo him, he'll pick you and you can do your thing. I'll ask some more people and they'll be his second choices." I nodded. "I just need to take your photograph so Punk'll know who you are."

I nodded again and before I could even prepare myself, there was a flash. I was still blinking away the white lights from my pupils as the man rushed off, "Thank you very much, Miss Birde." Great, he was going to show that picture to a wrestler and I probably looked like an idiot.

But I had bigger things to worry about than my appearance. Like my purse for example; Claire and Percy were hungry.

With the twins still trying to gobble up their abnormally large (and abnormally expensive) hotdogs, we reached our ringside seats five minutes into the show. Two men were already beating each other up right in front of us. Both of the twins jumped up and down as they ate and cheered. To my surprise, I also found myself getting into it, although I did want to throw something heavy at that woman with the screeching voice.

As the show went on, I began to feel nervous. I was going to appear on television that would be shown around the world. I was definitely not looking my best tonight (although I was wearing my favourite pair of boots) – I was wearing black jeans and an oversized knit jumper. I had just thrown my hair up in a messy bun. I probably looked a mess. Looking a mess around the world was not on my bucket list.

_However, _people clearly loved this kind of thing, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it would make Claire and Percy's night. That was why, when CM Punk (I knew it was him because Percy told me) and some other ugly man came out and started talking, I booed, hissed and jeered with everything that I had. Then there was the moment of truth.

CM Punk was yelling at the crowd. His eyes raked the audience, mainly on the front row, until he found me. His frown increased.

"You! Yeah you, Ginger! You want to watch your mouth, you know that?"

I rolled my eyes, throwing my hands on my hips in a gesture as attitude-filled as possible. That was more Natasha's forte.

"Oh, you think you're something, do you?" Punk taunted, leaning against the ring ropes towards me.

"I'm better than you, you moron!" I yelled back whilst carefully pushing the twins further behind me. Although they were so excited that it was difficult to get them to budge any further back.

"Oh really? You're better than me? Well, I'm the best in the world, so why don't you come in here and prove it? Face-to-face."

Heart leaping in my chest, I could hear my pulse beating in my ears. I was being broadcast on worldwide television at that very moment. And I was in my too-big jumper.

It was too late to back down. The security guards were waiting to help me over the barrier. I turned back to the twins quickly, "Stay there and be good." They both nodded with huge, obedient, excited eyes.

One of the security guards smiled at me warmly, "You'll be fine. Just stand your ground."

I nodded, still finding it slightly difficult to breathe. One of the men took hold of my elbow and the other took my waist as they lifted me over the barrier.

The crowd was going crazy. This obviously never happened. The cameras followed me as I walked towards the ring where Punk was beckoning. The security guards clearly expected me to climb the steel steps but instead I threw caution to the wind by grabbing the bottom rope and using it to hoist myself up. The ugly man who was with the wrestler sat on the bottom rope which I slid through.

The man spoke into a microphone, making his snarky voice explode around the arena, "What's your name, my dear?" He held the microphone to me which I spoke into, surprised at how clear my voice sounded in comparison to how nervous I felt.

"Rosalie Birde."

"Well, Miss Birde, would you care to elaborate on how _exactly _you think you're better than Mr Punk?"

I smirked over at 'Mr Punk' who was glaring at me with a raised eyebrow, "I'm a gold-winning archer; you're a wrestler. It doesn't take a genius… which is good considering you obviously aren't one."

"Excuse me?" He took a threatening step closer. I had the sudden feeling that he was legitimately angry at me. Perhaps I had crossed a line. "Gold-winning? I'm the _WWE Champion! _That means I'm the best in the world. Isn't archery the sport that takes the least amount of effort and skill? And you think you're so much cleverer than me? Obviously not considering that gigantic scar on your face looks like you put the arrow on the wrong way round."

The crowd 'oohed' as I gasped. He had touched a nerve. I felt blood rush to my face as I knew that the cameras would be zoomed in on my scar. Surely he must have seen the anger in my eyes, but he carried on anyway. He took more steps closer so that he was directly in front of me and peered at my face with squinted eyes, making the type of disgusted face that most people made when they saw the wound the scar came from.

I saw red. It must have been all of the adrenaline that was pumping through my veins mixed with humiliation. Whatever it was, it gave me no control over my actions as, within a second, I had raised my hand and brought it down hard across the wrestler's face.

Stunned, CM Punk stumbled backwards, falling against the ropes. Heyman started jabbering at me, shaking his finger in my direction, but he was the least of my worries. Punk looked angry. Really angry. His eyes were blazing as he straightened up. And as soon as he was at his full height, looming over me with an aura of intimidation, he lunged.

I think I must have screamed as I attempted to dodge him, nearly falling out of the ring in the process, but the impact never came. The ugly man had grabbed the wrestler's wrists and was muttering rapidly to him whilst Punk continued to glower at me over his shoulder. I stared right back. I'm pretty sure a couple of security guards were trying to get me to go back to my seat but my feet were rooted to the spot.

CM Punk shook Heyman off. I watched him wearily as he marched up to me. I flinched as he grabbed my forearms in his hands, pulling me close to him. He was talking so low that I could barely hear him so the crowd and cameras definitely couldn't.

"If you _ever _put your hands on me again, I won't hold back. Did you not see what I did to the guy who threatened to push me down the stairs a few weeks ago? You ought to watch yourself, Girlie, because I know how to throw a real good punch when I need to."

I narrowed my eyes. I wasn't having this. There was no way that I was going to let him threaten me on live television, and he was definitely not acting. This was real. And so was what I did next.

I brought my knee up where it hurts. Hard.

It goes without saying that he dropped me. He also dropped to his knees, clutching his wounded area on the mat, groaning in pain. I wasn't going to stay around after that. He had just warned me about what he was going to do, and he had only just stopped himself before. He wasn't going to stop himself this time. I ducked out of the ropes quickly just as loud rap music began to play.

All of the women and kids in the arena cheered whilst most of the men booed. Claire and Percy were jumping up and down with excitement, their eyes glued to the entrance ramp where a muscular man in a bright green t-shirt and cap was running towards the ring. That must have been John Cena.

I looked up just in time to dodge a hit that Punk had aimed at me from the ring. As Cena tackled and fought the WWE Champion, a frowning security guard led me back to the barrier with a hand on my back. After he helped me over, he asked with a curious voice, "Was all of that supposed to happen?"

I could only manage a shrug before I was attacked by the twins' hugs.

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_**A/N: **What do you think? Please give your views and opinions in a review. They really make my day. And if you really like the story and/or want to show your support, go ahead and click the follow/favourite buttons._

_Lots of love from Beth xx_


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